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Architect Special Interest Group February 2017 (pm)

In this session we looked at site modifies on a particular we looked at site modify conflicts. There are different reasons why site modifies might conflict with each other and we created examples where we could look at these problems and what the result was on the site model. In general terms if you have a site modify conflict you will not get an accurate site model. While this might not look too bad, it may cause errors in your cut and fill calculations.

Topics covered

01:36 We started by looking at the Site Modifier tool. There are several modes to the site modifier tool and each mode creates a different type of site modifier. So we looked at each of these different modes in detail and how they create different site modifiers. The basic concept of creating site modifies is that there are two components. First you need a 3D component (pad or contour) and secondly you need a 2D component to limit the changes to the site (grade limits). The relationship between the pad and the grade limits is crucial. If the grade limits is close to the pad, the slope between the existing site and the site modifier will be steep. If the grade limits as far away from the pad, the slope between the existing site and the site modifier will be shallow. If you do not put in a grade limits, you have no way of controlling the changes to the existing site.

16:05 now that we have covered the concept of site modifiers, we created a series of site modifiers inside one grade limit and the site modifiers touch each other. When two site modifies touch each other or crossover, you will get a conflict. The conflict appears as a yellow triangle (a warning triangle) at the point of the conflict. When you select your site model the object Info palette also shows the number of conflicts. When there is a conflict the site model does not update accurately, which we looked at in a 3D view. Then we solve the problem of the conflict by ensuring that they do not touch. If the site modifiers are separated by just 1 mm then they will not be in conflict and when the site model is updated it is now accurate.

27:29 there might be some confusion over the concept of site modifiers overlapping. You can place one site modifier totally inside the other one, provided that their edges do not overlap or touch. We looked at the example of creating a flat area for the main part of the building and then creating a small area inside this the basement. We also looked at how many site modifiers are required to do this.

42:45 the next site modifier conflict we looked at was roading. An easy way to get a conflict with eroding is to put two rows the touch each other. Often, when you make a road it includes the site modifier and the grade limits. If you join two roads end to end, there site modifies touch each other and their grade limits overlap. This gives you several errors. To solve the grade limits problem, turn off the grade limits for the roads and draw your own grade limit. To solve the site modifies touching each other, ensure that the roads are separated by a very small amount.

Architect February 2017 pm

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